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Schlopy Wins and Brown Clinches

by

USSA

2014-01-17 15:26

Alex Schlopy landed two incredible runs in front of his hometown crowd to take the victory Friday at the fourth slopestyle Olympic qualifier at the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix, while Bobby Brown finished second and secured his Olympic team spot. (Sarah Brunson/U.S. Freeskiing)

PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 17) – Alex Schlopy (Park City, UT) landed two incredible runs in front of his hometown crowd to take the victory Friday at the fourth slopestyle Olympic qualifier at the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix. Bobby Brown (Breckenridge, CO) finished second and by doing so mathematically secured his spot on the first-ever U.S. Olympic team for slopestyle skiing. The high-scoring competition saw Gus Kenworthy (Telluride, CO) take third. The battle comes down to the wire for the other athletes as they fight for team spots in the fifth and final slopestyle qualification event on Saturday. The fourth halfpipe qualifier will commence tonight in Park City and will air on NBCSN and nbcsports.com/liveextra at 11:00 p.m. EST.

HIGHLIGHTS

Alex Schlopy (Park City, UT) landed two incredible runs in front of his hometown crowd to take the victory Friday at the fourth slopestyle Olympic qualifier at the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix.

Schlopy’s run included a near-flawless, rarely seen in competition double cork 1620 (that's four and a half off-axis rotations), which helped him score an unbeatable score of 92.20.

Bobby Brown (Breckenridge, CO) finished second and by doing so mathematically secured his spot on the first-ever U.S. Olympic team for slopestyle skiing. He is the second to secure a spot after Nick Goepper (Lawrenceburg, IN) claimed the first spot at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix in December.

The battle comes down to the wire for the other athletes as they fight for team spots in the fifth and final slopestyle qualification event on Saturday.

The fourth halfpipe qualifier will commence tonight in Park City and will air on NBCSN and nbcsports.com/liveextra at 11:00 p.m. EST.

QUOTESAlex SchlopyI’m feeling so good. I’m just excited to be out there having fun. I just have to take it in and feel blessed for what we have. This is my first podium on a slopestyle course in three years. I have some more work to do tomorrow, but I’m just excited I finally got to put down the run I’ve been wanting to put down for the past few seasons. It feels so good. I’ve been waiting and working so hard and it just feels good to have hard work start to pay off. I didn’t expect to jump right into first place but I’m stoked.

Bobby BrownThe pressure is intense and there is so much on the line. Even though you say you want to cruise and have fun, it's just gnarly. It's an amazing opportunity and the fact that we had such amazing weather is great. I'm honored to go represent the USA and do the thing I love.

I didn't expect to make podium today, but I was hoping to. I just tried to have fun and lay down a solid run. I definitely want to keep going, ski harder and get things dialed for the Olympics and be totally prepared.

My mom and dad are here. After my first run, I was kind of bummed, but to see my dad all psyched gave me that extra push. They are the reason I am here. I did it for them. It's a special moment.